Spatial Typology for BIM Preassembling for Synthetic Architectural Design

Abstract

Contemporary Building Information Modeling (BIM) software provides basic component types such as bathtubs, desks, windows and walls that are available in many varieties of kinds and ready for drag-and-drop into a design project. However, the software is unlikely to provide higher level constructs such as bathrooms or offices as types, and these spatial concepts are largely unframed in the ontology of the building system. This paper looks at these spatial concepts left unframed in BIM as important fabric in the design process, examines how they are represented typologically in conventional design resources such as Neufert Architects' Data, and discusses strategies for embedding them in BIM. Together with abundant published cases of architectural designs, the examples of spatial forms in these resources play a role of Big Data. The paper then demonstrates a prototype of parametric office building typology embedded in BIM and illustrates how such a tool helps an architect to study volumetric layout on a given site. The approach tested leads to an idea of BIM imbued with a massive taxonomic library of preassembled spatial types and takes us a step closer to a symbiotic or synthetic architectural design process.